I think they should be careful not to exceed the cap, that being said, if more tickets are distributed they should go into the STEP program - those people have been trying to get tickets since the presale in some cases. Here's hoping!

Agreed (on feeding them into STEP). Now that they've got the methodology and the numbers locked in from the BLM they can go about accounting for the support staff accordingly, anything that would be possible to offer would be some number that is lower than 2,900. That's nowhere near enough to feed an open sale for even a minute or two, and would likely just frustrate and anger the tens of thousands who wanted them. If they're able to clear out (or at least seriously dent) the STEP queue and possibly re-open the gates again to help more people who've been waiting so patiently and keeping the faith over the last several months, I think that would be wonderful.

The hilarious part is that most of the folks I know who don't have tickets at this point have already made other plans. I was kindly offered one at face price the other day, and had to turn it down because I'd already invested my BM funds for this year into doing something else.

Yep. Feed into Step. But I wouldn't announce it in JRS until after the fact. Quietly open the queue to say another 1,000 and let them flow through that. Leave a hard margin of say 1,000 that will not be sold to keep things nice with BLM. Open sale just puts a portion into scalper hands.

The hilarious part is that most of the folks I know who don't have tickets at this point have already made other plans.

A'yep. Same with many of the people I know. People who know that for years have helped (and contributed) to defining the Man experience but are altogether unwilling to allow the Man define them. Hence the lack of sniveling, wailing and off the hip accusations of conspiracy, incompetency, etc., etc.

Ticket sales are ticket sales, and attendance is another matter. Borg got in trouble for going over the cap, even though the ticket sales were far less than the cap. BLM counts all those folks who don't have tickets but are in anyway, including staffers, construction, etc, so I doubt there are going to be anymore tickets coming.

BBadger wrote:I just hope some dust-hell videos surface from this coming year's BM. Visibility at 3ft, storms at 90mph, sparkleponies not so sparkley, maybe even a few deaths...

I'm envisioning a Blair Witch style video of dust covered ponies huddled into a partially collapsed coleman tent crying as the wind whips around them and they pick shards of shattered disco ball out of each other's feet.

It'll be interesting to see - not just if/how bad the weather may get, but how well it gets chronicled. Remember, the dust in the air is gozer the destroyer to all that fancy gear, unless you've got suitable protection for it.

Eh, it ain't that tough even in dust storms. Fancy equipment? Most YouTube videos are shot on point-and-shoots. A nice strong storm will be somewhat shocking to 2011 virgins, just as it was to us during our first storms. Then the sky will clear, they'll look around and see people emerging from tents and RVs, the usual primal screams of joy will erupt, and they'll be struck with the thought, "Holy shit, this is the fucking BEST!!!" And voila, a lifer is born.

Last edited by vargaso on Wed Jun 13, 2012 2:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.

@vargaso - true, though the alkali dust isn't good for point and shoots either. Historically not much shooting on the playa happens during dust storms (if you look at just what's online, you'd think the weather was fantastic the majority of the time every year), we'll see if that changes this year.

trilobyte wrote:@vargaso - true, though the alkali dust isn't good for point and shoots either. Historically not much shooting on the playa happens during dust storms (if you look at just what's online, you'd think the weather was fantastic the majority of the time every year), we'll see if that changes this year.

I assume a simple waterproof housing would be sufficient for most users. I have one that I use for diving. It's only rated to 30 feet, so I'm limited to certain dive sites, but that wouldn't be an issue for this use.

capjbadger wrote:Agreed. Last year's weather was far far too nice. A little hardship will do wonders for weeding out the weak partiers.

Badger

First year we had a dust storm all day and the rest of the week was pretty nice. We watched another couple struggle to set up their shelter, and then bail. Missed a great rest of the week. Well, except for some rain the last night

Excuse me Ma'am, your going to feel a small prick._______________________________________

capjbadger wrote:Agreed. Last year's weather was far far too nice. A little hardship will do wonders for weeding out the weak partiers.

Badger

First year we had a dust storm all day and the rest of the week was pretty nice. We watched another couple struggle to set up their shelter, and then bail. Missed a great rest of the week. Well, except for some rain the last night

Yeah, that Monday rainstorm delayed us getting the lamps out that evening a bit since we weren't allowed to move any vehicles.

BBadger wrote:I just hope some dust-hell videos surface from this coming year's BM. Visibility at 3ft, storms at 90mph, sparkleponies not so sparkley, maybe even a few deaths...

I'm envisioning a Blair Witch style video of dust covered ponies huddled into a partially collapsed coleman tent crying as the wind whips around them and they pick shards of shattered disco ball out of each other's feet.

Marscrumbs wrote:Add this to the tickets the scalpers will now be dumping. Wow!

Price already seems to be going own a bit on Ebay... at least from what I've been watching. And there's not that many that are being posted. If another couple thousand were put into circulation that would likely help.

Hey.. I've got some beachfront property in Colorado, too. I can make up an ebay listing for that as well if you'd like..

Hmmm... yeah... even you explained they are futures contracts. Why are these any different than futures that are traded on every single stock exchange every single day?

For your beach front property, can I pay with something that will surely give me my money back at the first sign of you flaking? Maybe even give me my money back if you don't flake? I'm not saying everyone on Ebay selling tickets is on the up & up, but the system is slanted so far in the buyers corner you'd be a moron to try to screw someone through it. Well, willing to roll the dice anyway. CL is way better for those shenanigans.

Long story short: they are (probably) transactions, and the prices are recorded & public. I'm sure tons of tickets are trading hands at face value or there abouts... but they're not recorded, and I'll venture to say they're trading amongst acquaintances at best too. Doesn't help most of us.

If you want to defraud someone on Ebay just make sure you have delivery confirmation.

"See? The tickets were delivered."

"But the box was empty!"

"No, you just took the tickets out and are claiming it's empty!"

"No! It really was empty! You didn't send any tickets!"

"That is false, and you can't prove otherwise!"

Oh and I just love the Stubhub guarantee that they'll refund your ticket money if the seller doesn't come through and they can't find a replacement: a refund sure isn't going to help you go to Burning Man! Imagine if they "wait" to send it out until some time in August, you know, so they can try and actually find a ticket they'll send. Worth the risk when you're talking those prices.

"The essence of tyranny is not iron law. It is capricious law." -- Christopher Hitchens

As an online seller that uses Paypal, I can assure you 99% of the time the buyer is going to win the argument w/ Paypal... package tracking or not. It is the nature of their business. Happy Buyers = Everyone wins! (except sellers). Not saying buyers don't get screwed, but it's far less common. I do see some sellers offering to put the tickets into Will Call in the buyers name. Surely that is a "true" ticket sale, and not a futures transaction, no?

By the way, good luck everybody! Our group found the last ticket we needed (from a lottery-winner who was holding on to an extra ticket), so that's eight people toward the front of the STEP line who are jumping out.

"The Red Baron is smart.. He never spends the whole night dancing and drinking root beer.. "-The WWI Flying Ace